How do you gain entry into a research setting? What tricks are there to learning the rules of the community without alienating the people you came to study? How are good relations maintained with informants? What happens after you leave the field? In Experiencing Fieldwork top ethnographers address these and other questions, bring fieldwork alive for the reader and provide invaluable advice for those entering the field.
This book investigates how anthropologists can make use of the emotions fieldwork generates within them to deepen their understanding of the communities they study.
Shortlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction Set in Thailand, a brilliantly original and page-turning first novel of anthropologists, missionaries, demon possession, sexual taboos, murder, and one obsessed young American reporter. When his girlfriend takes a job in Thailand, Mischa goes along for the ride, planning only to enjoy himself as much as possible. But when he hears about the suicide of a young woman, Martiya van der Leun, in the Thai prison where she was serving a life sentence for murder, what begins as mild curiosity becomes an obsession. It is clear that Martiya was guilty, but what was it that led her to kill? 'A killer novel... A great story... You can't stop reading.' Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly
The transition from academic work to a clinical focus that occurs during Level II fieldwork can be both exciting and challenging. This combination handbook and self-organizer contains a review of a variety of topics such as time management, teamwork, and occupational therapy practice issues as they relate to fieldwork success. Readers can keep track of schedules; note meetings and other must-dos; record journal entries and reflections; organize questions to ask supervisors; record suggestions and comments from supervisors; record important information about each fieldwork site; organize materials and resources; and write goals, action plans, and timelines for completion. In addition, the ""Talk It Over With Your Clinical Supervisors"" sections suggest useful questions to ask about each of the topics discussed in the book. This book can provide students with an organizational tool to help make the transition smoothly during the fieldwork experience.
"Other field researchers, who usually convey their craft only through one-on-one apprenticeships, should follow Whyte's lead and try to create their own vicarious apprenticeships through candid backstage accounts of their judgment calls in the field. . . . This book gives seasoned investigators an excuse to rethink what they take for granted and to see, step-by-step, how their practice compares with that of another seasoned person. Most people will welcome the chance to do this because of a final characteristic in this book, its even-handed tone." --Journal of Contemporary Ethnography "Useful for a better understanding of the character and promise of ethnographic research." --Journal of Communication "Goes beyond statements of principles to give a realistic picture of problems encountered by the field researcher." --Bulletin de Methodologie Sociologique A highly regarded field researcher tells how he has plied his craft for the past 50 years. William Foote Whyte, in collaboration with his wife, Kathleen, describes the successes--and failures--he has had in studying street corner society in Boston, oil companies in Oklahoma and Venezuela, restaurants in Chicago, worker cooperatives in Spain, factories in New York State, and villages in Peru. With the goal of taking readers into the field with him, Whyte discusses and dissects his chief tools--participant observation and the semistructured interview. He also explains how to evaluate and analyze field data, why the use of local history in social research is valuable, and the ethics of fieldwork. Whyte focuses on four general problems that have plagued his career as a researcher:
The books that give us insight into human motives and experience often are based on fieldwork: people spending time with others where those others live and work. In the World Observed sixteen researchers tell how their fieldwork experiences have been transmuted into understanding. The settings range from a women's prison in Indiana to a village in Egypt, from a streetcorner in Palermo to a gypsy funeral in New York. The authors - anthropologists, folklorists, sociologists, historians - relate their struggles to find meaning in the chaos of data and the ethical problems they had to confront and resolve. Their fascinating stories offer fresh insight into how we know what we know.
Ethnographic fieldwork is something which is often presented as mysterious and inexplicable. How do we know certain things after having done fieldwork? Are we sure we know? And what exactly do we know? This book describes ethnographic fieldwork as the gradual accumulation of knowledge about something you don’t know much about. We start from ignorance and gradually move towards knowledge, on the basis of practices for which we have theoretical and methodological motivations. Jan Blommaert and Dong Jie draw on their own experiences as fieldworkers in explaining the complexities of ethnographic fieldwork as a knowledge trajectory. They do so in an easily accessible way that makes these complexities easier to understand and to handle before, during and after fieldwork. The 2nd edition of this bestselling book updates the 1st edition and includes a new postscript on ethnography in an online world.
"This is not yet another step-by-step guide to research methods. Rather, Pole and Hillyard draw the reader into fieldwork as a form of living and lived research. They take key threads of research practices and processes and weave them into a holistic approach to fieldwork. Doing Fieldwork is a must read for new researchers planning a journey into the immersion of ′being there′ that is field work." - Professor Garry Marvin, University of Roehampton Fieldwork is central to Sociology, but guides to it often treat the real questions invisibly or over-load the reader with micro-details. This refreshing, authoritative volume, written by two experienced, highly respected fieldworkers, provides a one-stop, engaging guide. The book: Clearly explains fieldwork methods Shows how to locate a field and map it Covers common problem areas and ethical considerations Provides a ready reckoner of time management issues Helps with analysis of findings. Doing Fieldwork is an invaluable teaching and research resource. It should be in every student’s backpack and part of every researcher’s tool kit. Professor Chris Pole is Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Brighton. His long-standing research interests are in social research methodology, especially Ethnography and in the Sociology of Education and Childhood. Dr Sam Hillyard is a Reader in Sociology at Durham University. Her research interests are in qualitative research methods, interactionist social theory and rural studies.
The act of field sketching allows us to experience the landscape first-hand – rather than reliance upon plans, maps and photographs at a distance, back in the studio. Aimed primarily at landscape architects, Janet Swailes takes the reader on a journey through the art of field sketching, providing guidance and tips to develop skills from those starting out on a design course, to those looking to improve their sketching. Combining techniques from landscape architecture and the craft and sensibilities of arts practice, she invites us to experience sensations directly out in the field to enrich our work: to look closely at the effects of light and weather; understand the lie and shapes of the land through travel and walking; and to consider lines of sight from the inside out as well as outside in. Full colour throughout with examples, checklists and case studies of other sketchers’ methods, this is an inspirational book to encourage landscape architects to spend more time in the field and reconnect with the basics of design through drawing practice.
Featuring a mix of American and Third World anthropologies, FIELDWORK concentrates on the experiences of investigators studying the inner workings of society by entering into the life of its members. There is an obvious paradox here: anthropologists are both observers and participants. Despite attempts to remain objective, the fieldworker comes to think and act as a member of the target culture. Without this personal involvement ethnographic study becomes sterile, but because of it, detached, scientific objectivity is impossible. However, disciplined subjectivity is attainable through clarification of the human variations in fieldwork. This book explores the fascinating variations, ranging from a chapter by the dean of the American anthropology Charles Wagley, in which he relates his experiences in the 1930s among the Indians in the highlands of Guatemala, to one on recent fieldwork in an Arizona school district. Each chapter offers a unique perspective on the important issues of fieldworker identity and its development in traditional and modern fieldwork.
